Welcome to the 2004 Boulevard Brawl put on by CalROCS. This is the first event in the series point chase. Live coverage of the event is sponsored by RP Films, Superior Axle, and Drive Train Direct. A big thanks to them for all their support.

Today is Tech In where all the rigs come to verify that all safety equipment and vehicle specs meet their class requirements. It’s a nice warm day down here near the border of Mexico. There is a gentle breeze in the air and a happy spirit amongst the drivers because the scenery is awesome out here. We have green lawns and monster sized boulders everywhere. Enough rocks to wet any wheelers appetite. If you haven’t been down this way, which I assume is most of you; the rocks here are very large, round and porous. The surfaces of the rocks seem to easily crumble, so the traction on the rocks may be short lived, but at first step up the courses, there appeared to be a lot of grip.

Mike Shaffer and Lance Clifford fresh on the scene with new Superior Axle skins and some actual practice with the new rig. Will they have enough pull out a win?

So how are the courses? I thought you wouldn’t ask. They look real good. Talking to many drivers, they seem to agree. They are very challenging, but doable with a skilled driver and rig. There appear to be a lot of climbs followed by big drops. Many of those climbs and drops are diagonal with big pockets to fall and tip over in if the drivers aren’t on their game. There are at most 4 sets of intermediate gates (cones inbetween the start and finish lines) and they are placed in ways that make the obstacles more of the challenge instead of the cones. So overall, these courses should look pretty good for competition. I think all of them will be tough, but the climbs on A3 and B3 look to be where the action is at. In fact, RP Films, Roundeye, CalROCS, and Pirate4x4.com have all kicked out a Money Run challenge for course A3. A hot pot of $450 goes to the driver who pulls out the best score on that course.

So look forward to the action tomorrow as we bring you live coverage from Boulevard Brawl out in the middle of nowhere. Check out some of the pictures from the Tech inspection in the Gallery I have to get back to partying with the gang as we get pumped for tomorrow’s action.